The researchers did a CT scan of a shark’s head from the Natural
History Museum’s collection. The scan was used to make an accurate
model of the head and nasal cavity with a 3D printer. The model
featured recently on BBC2’s Museum of Life series about the Natural History Museum.

This is the first time a detailed model of a hammerhead shark’s head
has been made to study the creature’s amazing sense of smell. The
research is published this month in the scientific journal Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology.

Dr Jonathan Cox said: “Whereas humans use their lungs like a bellows
to inhale air through their noses to smell, the hammerhead shark smells
as it swims forwards, propelling water through its nose.

“The nasal cavity of the hammerhead is like a labyrinth of pipes,
with a central U-shaped channel and lots of smaller channels leading
off it. The smaller channels contain the olfactory receptors, and so
we’re looking at how the water flows through these channels as the
shark swims forwards.

“Sharks sweep their heads from side to side when they swim, so to
simulate this we change the angle of the head model in the tank and
observe the flow at each angle.”

Dr Timothy Nickels, Reader in Experimental Fluid Mechanics at the
University of Cambridge said: “We are really excited to be involved in
this project – it’s a perfect example of the strength of
interdisciplinary research, with Jonathan providing the in-depth
knowledge of shark olfaction whilst we contribute in measuring and
understanding the fluid mechanics side of the processes.

“It turns out that our skills and facilities are ideal for this work
although, until Jonathan came along we had no idea about this area of
research. We’re looking forward to developing this collaboration
further in the future.”

Dr Richard Abel, from London’s Natural History Museum, added: “This
exciting study manages to combine cutting edge 3D imaging of
50-year-old museum specimens, with wild observations of living sharks
and experimental flow research to determine how hammerhead nostrils
function. The findings will aid the design of green bio-mimetic
technology.”

The scientists hope their research could be used in the future to
design chemical sensors for underwater exploration, medicine and
counter-terrorism.